ESMBA Administration Support
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to enable ESMBA members to make an informed decision on the
feasibility of the ESMBA having a full time paid administration function.
Background
The General Secretary post had been vacant since the AGM on 11 July 2009 and both the Chairman
and Treasurer had been stricken with illness that had a long-term effect on their ability to perform
their respective duties and, as a result, a backlog of work had accumulated. The administration of
the association had reached a crucial situation with no immediate prospect of a resolution which
was detrimental to running of the ESMBA. Some of the problems encountered were that:
 Both signatories on ESMBA cheques, Chairman and Treasurer, were incapacitated so no bills
could be paid out. Creditors became impatient to such an extent that the vice-chairman had
to settle an overdue account out of his own pocket.
 Counties were not receiving any information from the committee and, with no General
Secretary or alternative contact, had also stopped sending in their correspondence as they
had nobody to address it to.
 Enquiries from individuals, including potential new members, had gone unanswered and a
lot of the e-mails to the web site were reminders for previously submitted queries/requests.
At the Committee Meeting on 28 November 2009 the alternatives were considered, including an
offer from an ESMBA registered player to take over the General Secretary post. This option might
have been considered preferable had it been received earlier but all communication to and from the
committee had broken down and drastic measures were required immediately to rectify the
situation and prevent further deterioration. It was felt that a new member on the committee would
need to be mentored before they could take on the major role of General Secretary effectively and
independently and the ESMBA could not afford to waste any more time in addressing the problem.
As both the EIBA and Bowls England have full-time administrators, and Crown Green has one on a
part-time basis, the Committee felt that this could be a viable option for the future of the ESMBA.
After a further discussion, for which I was not present, it was agreed that I would be contracted for
the period from 1 December 2009 to 7 February 2010, on a self-employed basis, to trial the role of
Administrator and to prepare a report as to the benefits and costing in time for the scheduled
Seminar on 6-7 February 2010. This was to enable the Committee to make an informed decision as
to the viability of that post and whether or not it was worth submitting a proposal to the member
counties to ratify the position long-term or to continue as in previous years and accept the offer
already received and appoint another General Secretary.
In an effort to deflect criticism of a conflict of interest, I resigned my office as ICC Secretary, which I
had been holding for the past two and a half years, with immediate effect thus giving up any right to
vote on the committee.
Workload
It is accepted that the office of General Secretary is the most onerous and since this post had been
vacant for over 4 months there was a lot to do to bring the work up to date. As soon as counties
were informed of the appointment of an administrator, they too restarted their communications
which had to be dealt with in addition to the accrued backlog.
My remit was to take on the administrative work previously covered by the General Secretary and
the ICC Secretary and to deal with all enquiries on the website, as sent to ‘enquiries@ esmba.co.uk’
and to be answerable directly to the Chairman of the Association. In addition, I was required to
submit weekly timesheets showing a breakdown of the work undertaken. I was also asked to précis
minutes of past meetings, which were already late in going out to county contacts, and to liaise with
committee members to ensure the minutes of the November meeting were updated and correct.
The first task was to prioritise the workload and clear the most important or urgent accumulated
correspondence while trying to restore the member counties’ faith in their governing body by
dealing with their renewed correspondence and telephone enquiries expeditiously.
Over the 6-week period the time spent on ESMBA administration averaged out to twenty-eight and a
half hours a week but does not reflect anti-social and unsocial hours. The very nature of the sport
means the work was never going to be spread out over a 5-day week on a 9 to 5 hour day and
telephone calls were received anytime between 7am and 10.30pm.
As queries or problems arise, county contacts expect an answer or decision to be made to resolve
them and not to have to leave a message on an answer phone for someone to get back to them at
their own convenience, especially when the majority of calls relate to ICC matches which need an
immediate decision due to the restrictions of a fixed timetable.
The diverse work undertaken during the trial period included the following:
General Secretary Duties
Booking alternative hotel for World Championships (as advised by the Scottish Association)
Cancelling unsuitable hotel
Booking the venue and accommodation for the February seminar
Advising counties of all committee vacancies
Sending correspondence re disciplinary matters
Collating the number of member clubs per county
Additional correspondence forced by call for an EGM
Issuing Thank You letters to helpers at shows and British Isles Championships
Multiple correspondence with Staffordshire re insurance requirements
Dealing with requests for rule books
Taking orders to purchase mats from National Finals
Checking Staffordshire’s constitution
Checking Staffordshire’s insurance policy
Collating amendments to the Information Pack
ICC Secretary Duties
Chasing counties for overdue correspondence and monies
Sending out Summer League Club Championship entry forms 2010
Answering queries from prospective new summer league entrants
General ICC correspondence re umpires and matches
Rearranging ICC groups
Compiling 2010/11 ICC diary
Multiple correspondence/phone calls rearranging cancelled ICC matches
to fulfil the fixtures within time restraints
Chasing 2010/11 ICC entries
Miscellaneous Duties
Producing and distributing précis’s of minutes
Completing July seminar minutes
Taking minutes of February seminar
Notifying counties of allocation for National Finals
Answering general enquiries on website
Liaising with ESMBA committee members
There were two unforeseen circumstances that cropped up during the trial period that had a major
impact on the expected workload. They were:
1. A committee member sent out a letter to all member counties proposing a motion of No
Confidence in the ESMBA committee which generated a deluge of calls, e-mails and letters
from registered players and counties that had only been given half of the facts regarding the
appointment of a temporary administrator before the research could even be carried out.
The committee had to set the record straight and issue a letter justifying a decision that had
been passed by them with a clear majority vote.
2. Because of the snow, 20 out of 24 of the scheduled ICC fixtures had to be cancelled. As it
was nearing the end of the group stage, there was only one non-ICC weekend on which to
rearrange those fixtures but this was a planned England weekend. The England Manager did
not want the ICC matches to take precedence but, at such a crucial stage, final group placing
would have been distorted by false results if counties had been deprived of playing their
better players due to prior England commitments and counties’ would have been
jeopardised from rightfully proceeding to the final stages of the competition.
Development of the Role
Because of the initial backlog to tackle, the first few weeks of this trial was not a true indication of
the anticipated workload. Now that the administration is up to date, I believe that there is the
capacity to expand the role of administrator to include a variety of roles.
I am confident that a full-time administrator could take on all duties from the following officers:
General Secretary
 Day to day communications from counties, members, other national governing bodies and
general enquiries.
 Administration for the Annual General Meeting
 Booking of venues, accommodation, travel for committee, national team, officials and
events.
 General contact point.
Minutes Secretary
 Producing minutes for all meetings and distributing to the committee.
 Compiling précis’s of meeting minutes and sending out to member counties.
Membership Secretary
 Collect membership fees and maintain a register of players and affiliated clubs.
 Provide an analysis of registered players.
ICC Secretary
 Arranging the diary, advising counties, collating scores, updating the website with results
and organising the latter stages of the competition.
 Organising and running the Club Championships.
National Championship Organiser
 Issue entry forms, collate entries, allocate final places, do the draw for the 6 finals days.
 Answer queries from counties and registered players
 Provide administration support at the national finals
The benefits of this would be a single point of contact for all correspondence and a dedicated centre
for the management of records with an independent non-committee member taking the minutes
without the distraction of being involved in the actual committee business. Having a dedicated
administrator responsible for issuing correspondence would ensure information is sent out within
the desired timescale so members are kept up to date of developments and are not misinformed by
rumours leaked from the committee and taken out of context.
Other committee members currently provide an administrative function which could also be passed
on to an administrator and includes dealing with the work involved for all other competitions, the
annual draw, the insurance scheme, license schemes, information pack, policy register and support
to the Umpires and Coaching directors. There is also the potential to assist the Treasurer by taking
on banking, (for example the competition fees), and some invoicing. The onus of storing and selling
the ESMBA regalia is also a duty the Administrator could perform.
The ESMBA has a child protection policy and it is vital that it is administered efficiently to protect the
children and vulnerable adults within the sport. A dedicated administrator could ensure all requests
for CRB checks are processed promptly and provide a day to day contact for queries and enquiries.
Restructure of the committee
With a dedicated administration function taking over their duties, the specific officers of General
Secretary, Minutes Secretary, Membership Secretary, ICC Secretary and National Championship
Organiser would become redundant. In addition, having reallocated their administrative work to the
Administrator, fewer members would be required to sit on the committee and it could be
streamlined to become a more efficient governing body.
A suggested committee could comprise of:
President – the figurehead of the association.
Chairman – oversees the day to day running of the association with responsibility for the
administrative function and the running of all official meetings.
Vice-Chairman – to support the Chairman in his duties and deputise for him in his absence.
Treasurer – steward of the association’s finances and providing regular financial information.
Competition Organiser – oversees the organising of all competitions and running of their final stages.
Coaching Director – developing and running coaching courses on behalf of the ESMBA
IT and promotion – provision of technical expertise to the committee, running the website and
supporting promotion of short mat bowls
Umpire Director – developing umpires qualifications and testing umpires
The restructuring of the committee would include a fundamental review of the ESMBA constitution
and any changes would have to be approved at an Annual General Meeting.
Financial Benefits
With the work being centralised, the present committee could be streamlined from 15 members to
or 8, as shown above. This would save the cost of paying out some of the current honoraria and the
officers’ associated expenses.
Expenditure to be saved, based on amounts paid or to be paid in 2009-2010, is as follows:
£2,500 in honoraria - assuming the same 10% rate of increase as last year.
£6,692.40 in expenses – taken from last year’s figures. See breakdown table below
£9,192.40 Total savings
Vice President £802.60
National Organiser £741.00
Minutes Secretary £519.80
Committee Member £1,148.40
Membership Secretary £972.00
ICC Secretary £881.00
General Secretary £662.60
Umpires Director £965.00
Total cost £6,692.40
The rationalisation of the committee would also reduce the level of other running costs such as
consumables, postage and stationery. Based on last year’s accounts and assuming the same level of
activity a reduction of 25% in running costs would generate a saving of around £1,000
At present we spend approximately £3,000 on the Retirement shows. At the last committee
meeting, it was agreed to let the Bowls Alliance take over from us so the shows will still be attended
but not at our expense.
The proposed savings made could all be offset against the salary payable for a full-time
Administrator.
I believe there are further savings that could be made elsewhere within the current ESMBA
expenditure, for example: wherever possible, correspondence could be dealt with by e-mail direct to
county secretaries/county ICC contacts to save the spiralling cost of postage as well as the paper,
envelopes and ink cartridges that are required to print and send out to all member counties (a saving
to the environment as well as the budget).
There is also scope to cut the England team budget, which benefits only a small percentage of the
total membership, but a further financial review needs to be commissioned to look into that more
fully.
Costs
Since the ESMBA is not a registered company or charity, it is not in the position to employ somebody
and pay any tax due under PAYE (and National Insurance contributions if applicable) so, if it is
decided to have a paid administration function it would have to be under contract either on a self-
employed basis or the buying of a service.
The minimum wage as at 1 October 2009 is £5.80 per hour, which equates to £232 for a 40-hour
week or £12,064 per annum.
For comparison, Bowls England and the EIBA currently pay between £25,000-£35,000 plus expenses
for an administrator to do their administrative work. If the ESMBA look to an agency to provide an
Administrator the expected salary would be in the range of at least £20,000.
Assuming a £12,000 contract is agreed, the ESMBA could offset at least the £9,192.40 savings shown
previously with the potential for even more. This generates an increase in costs of about £3,000. The
ESMBA currently has around £70,000 in reserves to fund the development of short mat bowls and to
run the association for its members and registered players. The benefits of having a paid
administrative function outweigh the minimal increase in costs.
Recommendations
If the ESMBA members decide to support a paid administrative role, then it would be advisable to
appoint someone from within the association, who already has a background of the sport of short
mat bowls, so they would have a knowledge of the workload they would be expected to deal with
and could start making a contribution immediately with a minimum of mentoring.
I am confident that, with the appointment of a paid administrator, member counties and registered
players would receive a better service from their elected representatives with a quicker response to
their queries and regular updates to keep them informed.
With a reduced number on the committee, the ESMBA would be a more efficient and professional
organisation with a closer working relationship and less scope for a breach in confidentiality,
especially important since some issues are controversial or sensitive, for example disciplinary
breaches or child protection.
It has been stated that we are an amateur sport so have no need for a paid administrator but, with
the amount of work involved to be able to run efficiently and develop the sport, this has now
become essential. All the other bowls codes, Bowls England, Crown Green and English Indoor are
also amateur associations but have all benefitted from having paid staff.
At present the committee only meet the county delegates once a year at the AGM so I recommend a
mid-year meeting to enhance the profile with our members. Alternatively, an Administrator could be
tasked with producing a bi-monthly newsletter to address the current criticism from some of the
member Counties who feel we do not keep them adequately informed as to what has been agreed
and the way we are progressing. There could also be the facility for them to make a contribution to
the content and air their views. Although it would not stop the minority who like to stir things up on
a certain internet-based forum, it would ensure that accurate information is released to the
members to at least enable them to make up their own minds.
With the co-operation of counties, a club directory and a registered player list including e-mail
addresses could be compiled. This information would assist the ESMBA in obtaining sponsorship and
funding from Sport England for example. It would also show the geographical dynamics of the sport
and help in planning how to best serve the grass root players.
If members agreed to a paid administrative function I recommend a tendering process be organised
allowing any interested party to apply. The process would be open and transparent and could easily
involve member counties in the decision.
Conclusion
The committee decided that the way forward is to appoint a paid administrative function at its
February seminar. It has called a Special General Meeting to consult with its members on the use of
a paid administrative function.
Potential candidates should be made fully aware of the diversity of the work and the impact it would
have on their home life. It would be essential to have the full support and understanding of their
partner and/or family and, in my opinion, would not be compatible with additional employment as it
is a full-time position if maximum use is to be made of the incumbent to justify their fee.
The contact they receive from members will not be limited to set hours and will overflow into
evenings, weekends and even public holidays – I was receiving e-mails on Christmas day! The
advantage to the ESMBA would be that they would have redress if the work was not being done or
was not up to the required standard, which they do not have at present with volunteer committee
members, and the members would receive a better service from the governing body of English short
mat bowls.
If measures are not taken soon to improve the running of the ESMBA I believe there is a real danger
of there being a split in the association which would undermine all the progress made over the
recent months with the forming of the Bowls Development Alliance. We should not fall behind the
other bowling codes but should instead strive to be the leading influence.
Keith Hawkins
Temporary Administrator
For and on behalf of the ESMBA Management Committee